This class formed part of a large production run of American shunting tank engines, designed to operate on the railways of Europe after D-Day. The urgency in which they were required led to the quite astonishing feat of a brand new locomotive design being completed and ordered within a single week. The type has its origins with Colonel Howard G. Hill, formerly a mechanical engineer with the Southern Pacific Railroad. During 1940, he was drafted in by the US Army’s Office of the Chief of Engineers, specifically to accelerate a programme of mass railway locomotive and rolling stock construction. In the following year, the US’ entry into the war seemed imminent, and in November 1941, liaison with the UK War Department over supplying the latter with motive power hastened the development of a new tank engine. Early in November, Hill worked long and hard to pencil a locomotive from scratch, and in under a week produced a complete set of drawings. The resultant 0-6-0 Tank locomotive, whilst intended for use on the other side of the Atlantic, was typically American in appearance, with a plethora of external boiler fittings, cast steel bar frames, and no running plates. Time was of the essence and consequently, the US Army immediately approved the design for large-scale production – this was in the absence of a single prototype. The design was formally coded ‘’T1531’’ by the US Army, and a total of 450 examples were authorised for construction.
The order was subcontracted to three American firms, namely H. K. Porter, Davenport, and the Vulcan Iron Works. H. K. Porter of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had a distinguished history as a specialist builder of industrial steam locomotives, and the US Army contract was a fitting swansong for a trade in its death throes. Whilst the war provided a much-needed boom in work for the firm, the dearth of locomotive orders thereafter saw engine building at H. K. Porter cease in 1950. The firm, which had suffered bankruptcy in 1937 and had subsequently been incorporated as a new company in January 1939, continued to manufacture industrial machinery; its locomotive building assets were sold to Davenport. As per H. K. Porter, the 1942 order was to prove somewhat of a final fling for the Davenport Locomotive Works of Iowa. In spite of acquiring the locomotive interests of the former in 1950, production at Davenport ceased six years later. Finally, the third contractor, the Vulcan Iron Works, was a Pennsylvania corporation, having its principal place of business at Wilkes Barre. The company’s locomotive building business was also nearing life’s end, production there ceasing earlier than that at Davenport, in 1954. In spite of the sad end to once thriving companies, their production of Colonel Hill’s engine was swift, and examples were arriving at Newport Docks, Wales, from ‘’across the pond’’ in July 1942.
Delivered in near complete form, engines were unloaded from the decks of ships and towed dead to GWR sheds in the vicinity, where the motion gear was fitted. At some of these depots they were temporarily used as shunters, whilst others were loaned for a short period to the Welsh Collieries. Several of the class S100 0-6-0T engines, as they had been formally classed by the US Army Transportation Corps (a subdivision of the army which had come into existence on 31st July 1942), were taken out on a lend-lease agreement by the UK War Department. Engines were run-in and steam tested, and whilst many were sent on their way to mainland Europe, several went into immediate store in Britain. Some of these stored engines were, too, shipped out for use on the continent in June 1944, again via Newport Docks. Examples were eventually dispersed throughout Western Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Forty-two of the S100 engines which remained in the UK were lined up in open air store at Newbury Racecourse station, on the GWR.
In 1945, Lieutenant Colonel Howard G. Hill was awarded the Legion of Merit in recognition of his services to the US Military. In the same year, the Southern Railway faced a conundrum. Several of the company’s shunting engines at Southampton Docks were nearing expensive boiler overhauls. These were the B4 tanks, originally introduced in 1891 by the LSWR under William Adams’ direction. They were compact engines running on a short wheelbase, necessary to negotiate tight curves in dock areas. Further engines of this type had been ordered after the LSWR took full control of Southampton Docks in November 1892, thus by the end of World War II, these tanks were over half a century in age. Indeed, they had been complemented in 1908 by a further batch of ten engines built to a modified design under Dugald Drummond. Nevertheless, with the end of the war in sight, SR locomotive building policy was upbeat, Bulleid having set the ball rolling with the introduction of the first ‘’Merchant Navy’’ Pacifics in February 1941. Between 1945 and 1947 (inclusive), it was proposed to construct seventy new steam engines, fifty of which were to be Bulleid Light Pacifics, the remainder comprising a mixture of passenger tank engines and dock shunters. The latter were to supersede the B4 tanks at Southampton, but a new-build programme for this type of engine was suddenly put on hold; numerous War Department locomotives had been identified as possible replacements.

There were two types of wartime engine on offer: the aforementioned U.S.A. Tanks in store at Newbury Racecourse, and a British equivalent, the J94 class 0-6-0 Austerity Saddle Tank. Several of the latter were lined up in open store at the Longmoor Military Railway, Hampshire, and like their American counterparts, had seen little, if any, use. R. A. Riddles of the LMS had been called upon by the Ministry of Supply to head a design team for a heavy shunting locomotive. The specification set out was for an engine which could haul a 1000-ton train from a standing start, on the level, and operate over tracks in varying states of repair. They needed to be capable of two years continuous intensive use. An order for 455 of these engines was subcontracted to the Hunslet Engine Company of Leeds, and as per the U.S.A. Tanks, many were shipped to the continent for use after the Allied invasion. Indeed, the Hunslet Engine Company subcontracted its own order to other firms to speed up construction time, notably: Andrew Barclay Sons & Co; Hudswell Clarke; Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns; the Vulcan Foundry; and W. G. Bagnall.

British Austerity Saddle Tank. At the end of the war they were all sold and the LNER bought 75 and grouped them as the J94 class. Many were sold to collieries and other industrial concerns

USA War Department Tank Engine

In January 1946, the SR commandeered a War Department Saddle Tank for trial running at Southampton Docks, and in that month it arrived at Eastleigh. These engines had a tractive effort of 23,870 lbs, a water capacity of 1,200 UK gallons, and a coal capacity of 2¼ tons. During trials, however, it was discovered that the 11-foot wheelbase was too long to negotiate some of the tighter curves at the docks, barring it from areas previously accessible to the B4 tanks. In April of the same year, one of the surplus U.S.A. Tanks, War Department 4326, was brought down to undergo the same trials. The engine had a water capacity of little over 999 UK gallons, a coal capacity of 2500 lbs (about 1.12 tons), and a tractive effort of 21,630 lbs at 85% normal boiler pressure. During the following May it was ran over the railway system at Southampton Docks, and its shorter 10-foot wheelbase was found to be capable of tackling those tight bends which the UK Saddle Tank fell foul to. A contingent of Souther Railway personnel was subsequently despatched to Newbury Racecourse to inspect those engines in store, which were reportedly in much better condition than the Saddle Tanks at Longmoor. Many of these tanks, which had been surplus to the War Department’s requirements, had only been steamed as part of their run-in trials, and were found to be in very good condition. They were robust engines fabricated from modern materials, with the simplicity of two outside cylinders. They were noteworthy for having the cylinders driving onto the rear axle. Eventually, fourteen of the U.S.A. engines from Newbury were purchased by the SR in December 1946, including that already at Eastleigh, WD 4326. This was for a cumulative total of £35,000, and the engines started arriving on SR territory in February of the following year. A fifteenth engine was latterly purchased for £2000 and intended as a source of spares. Among the fourteen operational engines which had been selected and brought to Eastleigh, were a mixture of examples built by H.K. Porter and the Vulcan Iron Works. The decision was taken to standardise on those made by Vulcan, in light of slight design variations, and a number of Porter examples were sent back to Newbury and exchanged. Of the final fifteen-strong fleet, thirteen were Vulcan-built, the final two (including the spare) being of Porter origin.

The purchase of the American engines was significantly cheaper than building new locomotives from scratch, but numerous modifications were required before these tanks could properly run on Southern Railway metals. They were out of gauge for their intended lines, which required modification of the cab steps, which were deemed too wide. The cab was also equipped with additional lookout windows and rooftop ventilators. Wider diameter draincocks were fitted to the cylinders; thus, incompressible water, formed through condensation during the cooling of the cylinders, could quickly escape. Carriage steam heating equipment was added, a British-style regulator placed in the cab, and separate steam and vacuum brake controls fitted, for which vacuum ejectors were used. The latter created a vacuum within the brake pipes between vehicles, and the degree of braking was determined by how much air the driver admitted to the same pipes. SR-style injectors, to pump the water into the boiler, were incorporated, and the coalbunker was enlarged.

The modified tanks were deployed to Southampton Docks between April and November 1947, where they replaced the B4 fleet. Some of the latter, which still had life left in their boilers, were cascaded elsewhere, notably to work in the goods yard at Winchester City. Generally good at their intended task, it was discovered early on that the U.S.A. Tanks were prone to developing hot bearings, which precluded their use on runs of any great distance (in preservation, this problem has been overcome by the fitting of mechanical lubricators). At least on paper, the fourteen-strong fleet of operational engines were numbered in the series 61 to 74; after the formation of British Railways in January 1948, 30000 was added to these numbers.

The fleet remained at the docks until displacement by purpose built diesel shunters in 1962; the first withdrawal was No. 30063 in May of that year. A number of tanks had a brief spell in store, or were used as static engines to supply steam to docked ships.

It was not long, however, before many were snapped up by Southern Region engineering departments, to replace pre-Grouping shunters. Three went to Ashford Wagon Works, one to Lancing Carriage Works, one to Redbridge Sleeper Works and, finally, one to Meldon Quarry. These six engines were renumbered in a new series with a DS prefix (Departmental Stock), whilst the remaining tanks – bar 30063, which was withdrawn for good – remained in the general BR fleet. 30062 arrived at Meldon Quarry in January 1963, which had become Western Region territory in September of the previous year. There it worked until August 1966, under the guise DS234, thus becoming one of the last operational steam locomotives allocated to the WR. Repairs having become due, it was transferred back to Eastleigh, remaining in service there as yard shunter until March 1967.

Locomotives have been arranged by the British Railways number they carried. Searches can also be made using any number or name the engine has carried during its life.

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